Complications After Body Contouring Surgery in Postbariatric Patients

Over recent years, body contouring procedures in postbariatric patients have been in exponentially growing demand resulting in high complication rates rendering a variety of ciphers in the literature.

The purpose of this study is to determine the complication rate in patients who have undergone body contouring surgery after bariatric surgery between June 2012 and March 2015 at Hospital de San José.

A cohort study including 153 individuals who underwent a total of 198 body contouring procedures after massive weight loss following bariatric surgery was conducted. Data on variables, such as complication rate according to the type of body contouring surgery, major and minor complications, weight of resected tissue, or intraoperation time, among other variables, were analyzed.

A total of 198 procedures were performed in 153 patients. The mean (SD) age of the patients was 43.93 years (9.4 years). Of 198 procedures, 110 (55.5%) had complications. The rate for major complications was 13%, and for minor complications, 87%. Complication rates according to the type of operation were as follows: circumferential abdominal lipectomy, 55.7%; extended abdominal lipectomy, 53.7%; cruroplasty, 69%; breast surgery, 57%; and brachioplasty, 40%. Patients who presented with bleeding enough to require transfusion (P = 0.000) and with weight of the resected tissue greater than 2700 g in abdominoplasty (odds ratio, 3.26; 95% confidence interval, 1.48-7.1) had a higher complication rate. There were no thromboembolic events among this population.

The overall complication rate was 55.5%. The great majority were minor complications. The thromboprophylaxis regimen used was 100% effective.